Fraser Valley/Bromont, Quebec – For the first time in three years, the University of the Fraser Valley men’s and women’s golf teams are back in the hunt for a Canadian University/College Championship.
The tournament, hosted by Golf Canada, brings together the top university and collegiate golf programs from coast to coast. Due to COVID-related complications, the event was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021, but it’s making a return this week at Domaine Château Bromont in Bromont, Que.
The 72-hole tournament tees off Wednesday and runs through Saturday. The Cascades men’s team qualified by virtue of their silver medal at the Canada West championships last fall, while the UFV women – fourth-place finishers at the CW championship – are a wild-card selection.
LIVE SCORING – CANADIAN UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP
“It’s just exciting to be back, to have this tournament again,” said Cody Stewart, head coach of the Cascades women’s squad. “The chance to showcase our team against the best in the country is something we’re looking forward to.”
“I know this tournament well, and what it means to compete at a national championship,” echoed UFV men’s head coach Aaron Pauls, who during his playing career as a Cascade won the individual bronze medal at the 2015 Canadian University/College Championship. “For our guys, Ben Whiton is the only one who’s played this event before, and he knows it’s a considerable step up from almost everything else we play. The other guys, they’re really excited, too.
“The other events we play, they’re great, and you want to do your best and win them. But if you lose them all and you win this one, you’ve had a great season.”
The Cascades have a track record of recent success at the Canadian University/College Championship. In 2018, the men’s team won the gold medal as tournament hosts at Chilliwack Golf Club, with the women claiming the bronze. Additionally, UFV has had four individual medal winners at the Golf Canada event: Pauls (men’s bronze, 2015), Connor McLellan (men’s bronze, 2016), Sharon Park (women’s bronze, 2017), and Daniel Campbell (men’s gold, 2018).
In 2019, the last time the tournament was held, the UFV men finished fourth at FireRock Golf Club in Komoka, Ont., with the UBC Thunderbirds sweeping the men’s and women’s team titles.
MGOLF: Cascades hope international trip pays dividends at nationals
The Cascades men’s golf team hasn’t tasted tournament action since early April, but in the interim, they’ve savoured a unique opportunity to travel internationally together.
Pauls and his squad toured Ireland in early May, playing a quartet of historic, world-class golf courses – Tralee, Waterville, Ballybunion and Lahinch – over seven days.
“We had two goals,” Pauls explained. “One was to play some golf and have a team trip, playing entirely different types of courses. We also wanted to give our athletes an opportunity to experience a new part of the world, seeing how they do things – valuable experiences that had nothing to do with golf.”
In addition to the team bonding benefits that accrue naturally with travel, Pauls is hopeful that his players’ experience playing links-style golf will serve them well as they pursue a national championship this week.
“The style of golf in our part of the world is very one-dimensional – you hit it up in the air, it stops quickly,” Pauls noted. “The weather changes a bit, but not drastically. Going over there, I think it opened our eyes to a different way to play.
“Playing links golf, hitting the ball low is very important because it’s so windy. It gives them a different sense of how to look at the golf course, and gives them more skills and ways to get the ball into the hole. There are unique shots we’d never hit at home.”
This week, the Cascades’ five-man roster (with the top four scores at the end of each round counting towards the team score) features Jackson Jacob, Eli Greene, Jacob Armstrong, Hudson LaFayette, and Ben Whiton.
“As a group, everyone can contribute which is really important,” Pauls said. “If someone’s shooting 76 to 80 every day, it puts a lot of pressure on the others, but all five of our guys can put up a good score. I feel good about our team, and everyone’s spirits. They’re enjoying each other’s company, and they’re excited about playing our biggest tournament of the year.”
WGOLF: Cascades looking to build on home-course victory
Like the men’s squad, the Cascades women’s team’s last tournament action came in early April at their home tourney, the UFV Spring Invitational at Chilliwack GC.
While that experience is fading in the rear-view mirror, it’s one that the Cascades are looking back on to mine for valuable lessons as they approach Wednesday’s tee times at Domaine Château Bromont.
“We’d had a solid spring, and every tournament we played, we got better,” Stewart recounted. “But we had little holes here and there that kept us from winning, and we’d end up second or third. But our most recent tournament at Chilliwack, we put it all together. We put ourselves in striking distance (after the first round), and then we closed it out for the win. We’ll be thinking about that as we play this week.
“It has been a little while since we competed, and it’s hard to replicate that true competition in practice. But since we’ve gotten here, seeing all the other teams and the Golf Canada banners, it kind of snaps you back into tournament mode.”
The women’s competition features four-player rosters, with the top three counting towards the team score. Representing UFV this week are Emery Bardock, Alex Brunner, Lucy Park, and Coral Hamade. Bardock, in her fourth year of eligibility, is the only upperclass athlete, while the other three are all in Year 1. Yet all four have had bright moments and have shown they are capable of leading the squad.
“The quality of the group that we have here, you could really exchange any of them one through four,” Stewart said. “Any of them can step up and lead us on a given day. Our four are really solid, and I think everyone will contribute here.”
